Let Olsen finish what he started

MIKE BERARDINO COMMENTARY

MIAMI GARDENS — Somewhere in the great beyond, Billy Martin is cursing a blue streak.

The late manager who once coaxed 94 complete games from his 1980 Oakland A's pitching staff would be appalled at how incredibly rare that achievement has become in the overly specialized modern game.

In particular, he would look at how the Marlins handled Scott Olsen in Sunday's 6-1 win and scream his bratty little lungs out.

Here was Olsen, rolling along with a 2-1 lead through seven innings, a mere 98 pitches on his log. Other than Austin Kearns' leadoff homer in the fifth, Olsen had allowed no other Nationals past second base.

The rapidly maturing lefty wasn't just in control of this game. He had it by the scruff of the neck the way an old-school school nun grabs a sixth grader.

Looking ahead, the Nationals were sending up the bottom of their order: a fading Aaron Boone, Wil Nieves and, most likely, a pinch-hitter for the pitcher's spot.

Olsen had been dominant, and even though it was a hot afternoon he seemed to be holding up just fine.

"I think he could have [finished]," said Marlins pitching coach Mark Wiley, who has worked wonders with the once-combustible lefty. "I don't think there was any problem with that."

Sending Olsen back out for the eighth would have been the old-school play. Lift him if he runs into trouble, but not until then, especially considering the alarming way the Marlins' bullpen has been overworked so far.

Marlins starters have been averaging right at five innings per game, worst in the majors, and this is no recent phenomenon.

The franchise of Josh Beckett and Livan Hernandez hasn't produced a nine-inning complete game since Dontrelle Willis shut out the Phillies on Sept. 10, 2006. Only the Nationals (225 games) and Rangers (210) have longer droughts than the Marlins (199).

Before last season, by the way, do you know the last time a big-league team had gone all year without a single complete game? Try never.

So what does Fredi Gonzalez do? After admittedly "wrestling" with the decision while the Marlins batted in the seventh, the kindly skipper lifted Olsen and replaced him with journeyman Justin Miller.

How close did Gonzalez come to leaving Olsen in the game?

"Real close," Gonzalez said. "I thought [Sunday] was going to be the day. He could do it."

You know what happened next. Boone drove the third pitch he saw from Miller off the wall in left, narrowly missing the tying home run.

Two batters later, with pinch hitter Nick Johnson (0 for 7 career against Olsen) coming up, Gonzalez was forced to bring in struggling lefty Taylor Tankersley.

That Tankersley fanned both Johnson and Felipe Lopez on vicious sliders to escape the threat does not make the Olsen decision any easier to accept. Nor does the four-spot the Marlins put up in the bottom of the eighth.

The point is the Marlins desperately need a complete game from one of their starters, and if not Olsen then who?

Did we mention Olsen has yet to throw his first complete game in the majors? Just three other active starters (Shawn Chacon, Chris Young and Tim Redding) have waited longer than Olsen's 72 starts for that rite of passage.

There's something to be said for letting the racehorse find the finish line. If he never covers the full distance, how will he ever learn what it takes to get there?

For his part, the newly chastened Olsen isn't about to make a fuss over this the way he would have before taking anger-management classes. But the small grin he flashes when the subject is raised tells you he'd like to get his name off that list of help-needed.

"Everybody wants to finish what they started," Olsen said. "As long as we win the game, I really don't care. I could go five innings or eight innings. It just doesn't make a difference."

Not at all?

"Well," he allowed, "for that brief second it would be pretty satisfying."

It's just a matter of time, everybody with the Marlins seems to think. His manager said Olsen is "real close" to covering all nine frames, noting he hoped the kid gained some confidence from being allowed to hit with the score tied and a runner on in the sixth.

"He'll definitely do it," Wiley said. "He's on the verge all the time now. He's going to have one of those games where everything's going good."